Dragonfly Migration — Old As The Dinosaurs

wandering glider
in purple rain–
silent muse
migrating thousands of miles
to sit still in my garden

Dragonflies have existed for over 300 million years. According to the Migratory Dragonfly Partnership, about 16 of the 326 dragonfly species in North America are regular migrants, some traveling hundreds to thousands of miles each year. The major migratory species in North America are: common green darner (Anax junius), wandering glider (Pantala flavescens), spot-winged glider (Pantala hymenaea), black saddlebags (Tramea lacerata), and variegated meadowhawk (Sympetrum corruptum). Learn more about the mystery of dragonfly migration at The Nature Conservancy piece, Dragonfly Migration: A Mystery Citizen Scientists Can Help Solve, and at Dragonflies That Fly Across Oceans, a TED talk by biologist Charles Anderson.

One Response

This is beautiful, QM. Dragonflies are such fascinating creatures. They are different here on the Eastern Shore than those I am familiar with in NE Ohio. Some are so big I feel as though I’ve stepped back to the Carboniferous period when Meganeura was still flying around.